Sunday, March 17, 2013

Mora na maidine dhuit! Bail ó Dhia ort. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, that time of year to
show your Irish pride and honor the patron saint of the Emerald Isle. So throw on your green sweaters, adorn
yourselves in shamrocks and pour yourself a pint of Guinness (or a Shamrock
Shake from McDonalds if you, like me, aren't a fan of beer) before sitting back
and immersing yourself in the sounds of traditional Irish ballads. But maybe you want to do a bit more than
that. Perhaps you also want to treat
yourself to a special movie night to celebrate this day. If that is what you choose to do, then your
movie night will not be complete without a live action film produced by Disney
back in the late 1950s. This film not only follows an old Irish
storyteller as he engages in a battle of wits with the King of the Leprechauns,
but it also delves into the culture and mythical legends surrounding the Irish
people while showing the viewer some of the picturesque old countryside. This is Darby
O’Gill and the Little People.

The
story takes place in the town of Rathcullen, which is located in the
southwestern County Kerry. As the film
opens, the Widow Sugrue stops by the estate of Lord Fitzpatrick. She makes her way to the gatehouse, where the
movie’s protagonist, Darby O’Gill, lives with his adult daughter, Katie. Darby, as we’ll soon find out, is the
caretaker for Lord Fitzpatrick’s estate.
At the moment, however, the only one who’s home is Katie, who is in the
middle of churning butter. The Widow
Sugrue starts things off by asking Katie for a pinch of tea, but then whips out her
sales pitch by commenting to Katie about how the latter doesn't have a husband,
and how many women have lost their chance at getting married by waiting too
long. Before all the feminist extremists
start reaching for their torches and pitchforks, please remember that this
movie is seemingly set during the 19th century. Besides, the Widow Sugrue as an ulterior
motive in all of this. Her objective in
bringing up the concept of marriage is to convince Katie to consider marrying
her son, Pony. This would, in turn,
enable Pony to be able to move into the gatehouse and lay claim to the benefits
Darby has obtained from being Lord Fitzpatrick’s caretaker, which clearly is a
very prestigious job in this town as Darby and Katie apparently have more than
other people in town. Thus, the Widow
Sugrue is very eager to either see Pony become the caretaker or to marry Katie.

At that moment, Lord Fitzpatrick
arrives at the gatehouse unannounced, much to Katie’s surprise. She hurries out to greet him, telling him
that if they knew he was coming, they would have had the manor house open for
him. Lord Fitzpatrick assures Katie that
he won’t be staying long enough to need the manor house, and inquires about
Darby. Briefly, a nervous look appears
on Katie’s face, but she quickly recovers and tells him that her father had
been talking about cutting the weeds around the summer house and has probably
gone into town to have his scythe sharpened.
After offering to go and fetch him, Katie dashes off. Once Katie leaves, Lord Fitzpatrick begins a
conversation with the young man accompanying him. This is Michael McBride, who is played by
none other than a young Sean Connery.
Lord Fitzpatrick reveals to Michael that he knows that Darby isn't really getting the scythe sharpened and is most likely off at the inn telling
stories. Their conversation is overheard
by the Widow Sugrue, who takes the opportunity to try and promote her son,
Pony, to Lord Fitzpatrick, insisting that Pony is better suited to be the
caretaker.

The action now cuts to Darby, who,
as Lord Fitzpatrick predicted, is in the middle of telling his friends down at
the local pub about one of his misadventures.
According to Darby, he managed to corner King Brian, the King of the
Leprechauns, out in the ruins atop Knocknasheega, a mountain that will appear
numerous times throughout this movie.
Darby’s story is interrupted when some young man jokingly asks if the
leprechaun king had a long tail and a cloven hoof. Darby starts to comment on how silly that
question is, but stops when he sees who was talking. This is the famous Pony, who is the closest
thing this movie has to an actual villain.
Pony is essentially a mix of the local bully and the village’s
heckler. He regards all the stories
about leprechauns and other fairy folk as ridiculous blather and essentially
dismisses Darby’s claims of seeing a leprechaun as nothing more that
hallucinations brought about by too much drink.
After telling Pony off for heckling, the pub’s owner urges Darby to
continue. Darby complies by explaining
how, upon cornering King Brian on Knocknasheega, he told the leprechaun king
that he would not be let go until after he granted Darby’s three wishes. King Brian attempts to trick Darby in order
to escape, but Darby informs him that he knows all the Leprechaun’s tricks, and
that if King Brian doesn’t grant him his wishes, he’ll have Father Murphy, the
village’s priest, lay a curse upon the leprechaun.

King Brian then relents, and tells Darby to
make his wishes. Darby proceeds to make
his wishes, first by wishing for health, then for a big crop of potatoes. Finally, for his third wish, Darby requests
the crock of gold. King Brian grants
each wish with a casual air, but when Darby is admiring his gold, King Brian
asks what Darby’s fourth wish will be.
Darby states that he never heard of the fourth wish, to which King Brian
insists that he’s feeling generous that night.
Thus, Darby wishes that all of his friends in the village will get a
crock of gold of their own. Once Darby
makes his wish, King Brian starts laughing and tells Darby “Three wishes I
grant you, big wishes or small. But you
wish your fourth one, and you lose them all!”
With that, Darby’s crock of gold vanishes, as does King Brian.

We then return to the present, where
Darby finishes up his tale. One of
Darby’s friends, Paddy, warns Darby to stay far away from Knocknasheega and not
to meddle around with King Brian. Darby
scoffs at his friend’s warning. At that
moment, Father Murphy makes his presence known.
Unbeknownst to Darby, Father Murphy had entered the pub in time to hear
Darby’s story in its entirety. Father
Murphy informs everyone in the pub that he had been contacted by the priest in
another town. Apparently, the church the
other priest presides over had just obtained a brand new bell for their chapel,
and the old bell is being donated to them.
Since Father Murphy doesn’t have a horse or cart, he is hoping that
someone there would be willing to go retrieve the bell in his place. While Pony volunteers his service, he refuses
to do the work for free. Instead, Father
Murphy then pretty much coerces Darby into volunteering to get the bell, by stating that doing this
task might even absolve someone of the sin of using the name of the church
against the powers of darkness for their own ends. (Father Murphy clearly is referring to the
part of Darby’s story where Darby threated King Brian with the church’s curse
in order to get his wishes granted.) A
repentant Darby instantly volunteers, stating that he’d do the task for
nothing. In response, Father Murphy
tells Darby that in return for his good deed, Darby will be given the music of
the bell. Obviously, this is a very big
deal, if Darby’s reaction is any indication.
To be honest, I’m not sure if getting the music of the bell symbolizes
anything, but I’m guessing it means Darby and all his descendants will receive
God’s blessing every time the bell is rung.
If anyone has a better idea of what it means, though, please let me know
in the comment section below.

After the deal is made, Katie enters
the pub and hurriedly drags Darby away.
Back at the estate, Darby joins up with Lord Fitzpatrick and Michael
outside the summer house, where Michael has found evidence that someone had
been poaching rabbits. Once they’re face
to face, Lord Fitzpatrick informs Darby that he’s retiring him as caretaker and
giving the position to Michael instead.
To make the news easier for Darby, Lord Fitzpatrick will allow Darby and
Katie to move into another cottage on the land where they will live rent
free. Darby is shaken by the news, but
requests that Lord Fitzpatrick allow him to break the news to Katie. Lord Fitzpatrick agrees, but reminds Darby
that he has two weeks to get things settled and move out of the gatehouse.

Once Lord Fitzpatrick leaves the estate,
Michael is set to head off to the inn, where he will be staying until Darby and
Katie can move out of the gatehouse.
However, Darby refuses to let him do so, and instead invites him to stay
up in the loft. At first, Michael is
hesitant, but Darby insists and, when Katie is brought into the conversation,
she states that it’s no trouble to give Michael houseroom. It is at this point where we see there is an
instant but subtle attraction between Katie and Michael. Meanwhile, the Widow Sugrue, who is currently
unaware that Michael has already been slated as the next caretaker, is still
trying to promote Pony to Lord Fitzpatrick.

When night falls, Michael is visibly
taken aback when he hears Darby telling Katie that Lord Fitzpatrick had only
brought him to the estate as seasonal help.
While Michael is no doubt conflicted, he doesn’t contradict the lie and
remains silent. Before settling down to
supper, Darby plays out an upbeat tune on his fiddle. As Darby plays, Michael, as one would expect
(hey, this is Disney, after all,) keeps sneaking glances over at Katie, who is
busy preparing supper. If Darby notices
this, he gives no indication of it, and simply asks Michael if he can identify
the tune. Michael states that the song
Darby is playing is completely new to him.
Darby, upon finishing the song, informs Michal that he heard it out in
the old ruins of Knocknasheega, where it was being played by the leprechauns as
they danced around in the moonlight.
Michael responds by saying “Aren’t they the bold creatures?” Katie, I suppose, heard some sort of
patronizing undertone in Michael’s statement, as she instantly gives him a
sharp glare and coldly announces that the supper is ready.

After supper, Darby heads off to
round up the horse in order to go and pick up the bell for Father Murphy in the
morning. Michael offers to go help him,
but Darby turns him down. Michael them
near scolds Darby for lying to Katie about why Lord Fitzpatrick brought him
there, but Darby insists that he can’t just break the news to Katie out of the
blue. Darby promises that he’ll tell Katie
the truth soon and then heads off to Knocknasheega to get his horse,
Cleopatra. When Darby finally catches up
to Cleopatra among the ruins, the horse’s face suddenly goes… there’s no
other way to put it… trippy. I know that’s
a vague description for what happens, but I can’t think of a better one. I managed to stumble across a screenshot, but
pictures don’t do it justice. I have
absolutely no idea how the film crew made this effect, but my gosh, it’s
incredible. And this was done without
the use of modern-day computer animation. Whoever
managed to create this effect deserves some kind of an award.

Now,
gushing aside, this moment is supposed to reveal that Darby’s horse is actually
a pooka. Cleopatra the pooka proceeds to
rear back and ultimately forces Darby to fall down a deep well. Now, you would think that the fall would have
killed Darby, but he actually survives.
The reason for this is because the well was actually the entrance to the
leprechaun kingdom, so there’s magic there.
Darby is greeted by two leprechauns who bring Darby to King Brian’s
throne room, where King Brian greets him warmly. Darby soon starts admiring the numerous Irish
treasures that fill the throne, such as the throne of Fergus mac Léti, the gold cup of Cormac and the sword Brian Boru used to drive
out the Danes.

This
is one of the reasons why this movie is such a gem. It’s a tapestry of Irish culture and
history. Granted it could be said that
it portrays a stereotypical view of the Irish people, but you can tell that
Walt Disney did some research when he made this movie. For those who don’t already know, Fergus mac
Léti, Cormacmac Airt and Brian Boru were all
legendary high kings of Ireland, although Brian Boru is arguably the most
famous..

As
Darby admires the treasures, he starts to wonder what his friends in town will
say when he tells them about what he’s seen.
However, King Brian informs Darby that he can never leave. This angers Darby, and he proceeds to berate
King Brian for trapping him there after Darby did whatever he could to ensure
the people in town showed the proper respect for the leprechauns. This berating enrages the other
leprechauns. King Brian then tells Darby
that his right hand leprechaun had overheard Lord Fitzpatrick telling Darby
that he was being replaced as caretaker, and that King Brian had ensured that
Darby be brought to his kingdom to help spare him the troubles of losing his
job. Once he hears King Brian’s
reasoning, Darby admits that he is grateful towards the leprechaun king. When asked if he would like to play the harp
that stands among the treasure, Darby states that he’s rubbish with harps and
is much better with the fiddle. He
offers to go and fetch his old violin from the gatehouse, but King Brian is one
step ahead of him and gifts Darby with a Stradivarius, which has the reputation
of being the unparalleled best string instruments money can buy. Darby, knowing that there is nothing
leprechauns like more than dancing, whisky and hunting, decides to play the Fox
Chase.

The
next few minutes are rather pointless.
It’s just Darby playing the Stradivarius while all the leprechauns dance
around the room. After a while, King
Brian and the leprechauns get so into the song, they all mount small white
horses and ride them around the throne room for a while before King Brian uses
his magic to open up a hole in the side of the mountain, which all the
leprechauns ride through. Seeing his
chance, Darby slips through the hole after them after pocketing some of King
Brian’s cache of jewels. Darby just
manages to make it outside before the hole closes up again, but unfortunately
the treasure he tried to make off with had all fallen through a hole in his
pocket, much to the amusement of Cleopatra the pooka, who was inexplicably waiting outside for Darby.

Back
at the gatehouse, Darby is busy in the stables, drawing the curtains over the
windows and pulling a jug of whisky off the shelf. When he notices that Cleopatra is giving him
the eye, Darby informs her that he’s expecting company. Darby’s prediction soon proves true, as King
Brian appears in the stable. He is not
happy with Darby for tricking him. Darby
tells King Brian that he only came back to retrieve his pipe. There is nothing else he wants from his old
home and he is eager to return to the leprechaun kingdom. He goes on to tell King Brian that he doesn't even want the jug of whisky, which he would offer to King Brian except that it wasn't good enough to please the little king.
King Brian, however, insists to judge the whisky for himself. King Brian finds the whisky to be pleasing,
and soon decides that they have plenty of time to return to the mountain. In no time at all, Darby and King Brian
strike up a drinking song as they continue to drink the whisky, although Darby secretly
refrains from drinking a single drop.

It
soon becomes clear that King Brian is beginning to drink too much. So much so that he doesn't realize how much
time has passed until he hears a rooster crowing outside. It turns out that this was Darby’s plan, as
he knew King Brian’s magic was hindered during the day. Thus, King Darby cannot escape the stable and
is essentially trapped. King Brian is
enraged that he was tricked twice in a row and vows that when his magic returns
when night comes, he will place a curse on Darby for his deceitfulness. Darby simply laughs off the threats and sets
the farm’s cat onto King Brian. Once
King Brian is effectively cornered by the cat, Darby tells him that he’ll call
off the cat if King Brian agrees to give Darby his three wishes. The frantic King Brian agrees, and Darby
pulls the cat away. Slyly, King Brian
offers Darby as many wishes as he wants, but Darby informs King Brian that he
remembers their last encounter and what happens when you make a fourth
wish. Deciding that he wants to protect
his last two wishes, Darby makes his first wish that King Brian will be at his
beck and call for a fortnight until he makes his next two wishes. King Brian,
again, is furious, but when Darby once again threatens him with the farm cat,
King Brian grants the first wish. When
King Brian asks how he’s to protect himself until Darby makes his next two
wishes, Darby pulls out a rucksack and stuffs the protesting King Brian into
it. Upon exiting the stable, Darby is
displeased to see the Widow Sugrue skulking around the gatehouse again. It’s clear that Darby has no tolerance for
this old woman and her tendency of always going around begging for various
things. Perhaps Darby feels that the
Widow Sugrue is leeching off of them, and after seeing some of the Widow
Sugrue’s actions, I have to agree that Darby’s assessment is spot on.

Inside,
Michael has just woken up and is greeted by Katie. Both have just noticed that Darby is absent,
but Katie is confident that he will turn up.
Their conversation turns to Darby’s talk of the leprechauns. Michael reveals his skepticism by commenting
that he suspects Darby simply drinks too much.
Katie, however, informs him that Darby isn’t a drinking man and that he
goes down to the pub because he’s been lonely since Mrs. O’Gill passed away and
enjoys the company. Michael asks Katie
what she does when she gets lonely, to which Katie states that she keeps
busy. She then tells Michael that
there’s a dance that night in town and suggests that he go with her. Michael gracefully declines, but asks that
Katie call him Michael. (Up to now,
she’s been calling him Mr. McBride.)
With a wide smile, Katie states that she hasn’t known him for more than
a day, so she won’t be calling him by his first name until she’s known him
longer. Darby chooses that moment to
enter the room, asking what the Widow Sugrue was doing around the place. He warns Katie that both the old widow and
her son, Pony, are not to be trusted as they’re most likely up to no good. After that conversation is over, Darby no
doubt thinking about King Brian and his two remaining wishes, tells Katie that
there’s been a change in their fortunes and that he might be buying the manor
house. However, Katie is completely uninterested
with the thought of living in the manor house.
Darby tries to find out what Katie would want, but Katie takes up a tone
of finality and tells him to pipe down and eat his breakfast.

We
now reach one of the highlights of the movie.
Sometime later, Katie is going out to bring some food to Michael, who is
busy cutting the weeds around the summer house.
She finds him in the middle of singing the tune ‘Pretty Irish Girl,’ a
song that, from my brief internet research, was apparently written for the
movie. Yes, that’s right, everyone. Sean Connery, the man who would go on to
become one of the most iconic James Bond actors, voice a dragon and portray
Indiana Jones’ father to boot among other notable roles, actually sings in this
movie. While there are some that suspect
Connery’s singing was dubbed by Irish singer Ruby Murray, Michael’s deeper
singing voice does not match that of the vocally trained Murray. Thus, I am confident that it really is
Connery singing here, and I’m sure any fan of his acting needs to see this
scene. As for the song itself, it is far
too catchy for its own good. I guarantee
you’ll at least be humming it for quite a while after seeing this movie.

As
Katie gives Michael the food she prepared him, they strike up a playful
conversation that begins when Katie warms Michael about the dangers of eating
hot bread, which prompts Michael to comment on how he probably needs someone to
look after him. Michael also questions
Katie if Darby said anything to her before leaving to pick up Father Murphy’s
bell, checking to see if he came clean to her about his retirement. However, Darby clearly still hasn’t told
Katie the truth and merely told Katie that he (Michael) was a good lad. When Michael asks Katie if she agrees with
that statement, she coyly says she doubts it before dashing off with a wide
smile.

Later
on, Darby returns home with Father Murphy’s bell. After delivering the donated bell, Darby steps
into the pub and, when his friends notice that the rucksack Darby’s carrying is
moving, Darby tells him that King Brian is inside the rucksack. While the disbelieving Pony and his cronies
state that it’s probably just a chicken and leave the pub. the others believe
Darby’s claim, which is proven to them when Darby lowers a small glass of the
pub’s finest whisky down to King Brian, who, upon finishing it, tosses the
now-empty glass back up to Darby. The
witnesses to this are stunned into silence, with the bartender placing the
glass in question up on high shelf, stating that they’ll be repeating that
story. “And if any man doubts the truth
of it, there's the very same glass,” she announces.

That
night, Darby arrives home to find Katie getting ready for the previously
mentioned dance, singing the very same song Michael had been singing
earlier. She tells Darby that Michael is
off doing the rounds for Darby, checking around for poachers. Darby leaves to catch up to him and, as he
hurries through the grounds, Michael suddenly leaps out of the darkness,
tackling him. And on a personal note,
this moment always makes me chuckle. I
have no idea why, but I find the image of Michael quite literally popping up
out of nowhere to tackle Darby quite funny.
Once Michael realizes that it’s only Darby, he apologizes, saying he
thought Darby was a poacher. However,
when Michael sees Darby’s rucksack, he concludes that there’s a rabbit inside
and initially refuses to return it.
Darby informs Michael that he’d captured the king of the Leprechauns,
and even allows Michael to look inside the rucksack. However, since night has fallen, King Brian
has regained his magic and ensures that Michael only sees him as a rabbit. Sadly, Darby wishes that Michael could see
King Brian. At that moment, King Brian
gleefully informs Darby that his second wish has been granted. Flustered and unhappy that he wasted his
second wish, Darby demands that King Brian go on and let Michael see him. King Brian, the slippery little bugger he is,
tells Darby that Michael can see him: he sees him as a rabbit. However, King Brian takes pity on Darby and promises
him that Michael can see his true self in his dreams that night.

Elsewhere,
the town’s dance has just come to an end, and Katie is leaving the dance hall,
accompanied by a man named Sean. After
complementing Katie on her dancing, Sean offers to see Katie home, but before
she can reply, Pony steps in and says that Katie can ride home with him. While Sean starts to protest, his words trail
off when Pony literally twists his arm, forcing Sean to back down. Thus, Pony is the one who brings Katie back
to the gatehouse. Once they’re there,
Pony makes an obvious attempt to kiss Katie, but she simply bids him goodnight
and heads inside. She is met with Darby,
who had been waiting up for her. Darby
begins to scold Katie for riding home with someone like Pony and tells her to
stay away from him. Once Katie has gone
off to bed, Darby has a heart-to-heart with King Brian, who had been hiding
nearby. King Brian warns Darby that if
he doesn't make his final wish soon and let him return home to Knocknasheega,
his leprechaun army would retaliate by going after Katie. Darby admits that he doesn't know what to
wish for. It turns out that Darby wants his
last wish to ensure Katie’s happiness, but he has no idea what would accomplish
that goal. King Brian suggests that
perhaps Katie really wants is a steady lad with temperate ways. Darby states that if Katie found love with a
man like that, he would gladly make his third with. Thus, as the night goes on, King Brian slips
into matchmaker mode by entering into the dreams of Michael and Katie in
turn. With Michael, he places the idea
into his head to take Katie up to the ruins of Knocknasheega after Sunday
mass. Once he’s done with Michael, King
Brian makes his way to Katie’s room. I’m
not quite sure what he convinces her to do, but I suppose he’s encouraging her
to play hard to get.

Because
of King Brian’s influence, Katie and Michael journey up to Knocknasheega on
Sunday. While they’re up there, I
imagine King Brian’s leprechauns are working their magic to ensure that the
pair falls in love. The quasi-date
starts off with Michael reciting the poem The Pillars of Old Ireland, with some
paraphrasing. Seamlessly, the pair starts
to playfully flirt with each other, culminating with Michael chasing a laughing
Katie across the mountainside. Their fun
is brought to a screeching halt when Katie literally runs into Pony. For a few tense moments, Pony and Michael
face each other down, but before anyone can throw a punch, Katie leaps to Michael’s
defense, telling Pony that if he lays so much as a finger on Michael, she’ll
never speak to him again. Pony
wordlessly steps aside, his smarmy smirk never leaving his face. Once they’re out of earshot, Michael
essentially tells Katie that he doesn't need her help against someone like
Pony. In response, Katie insists that
Pony would have killed him, but when asked, she claims that she wouldn't have
cared if Michael had died, because she doesn't have the slightest interest in
him. Despite her words, Katie leans in
for a kiss. Instead of complying, Michael
sidesteps around her to walk off. Before
he takes five steps however, Katie hurries after him and kisses him.

Unbeknownst
to the pair, a gleeful Darby and King Brian had been watching the
exchange. Thrilled over the fact that
Katie and Michael have now fallen in love, Darby prepares to make his third
wish, but stops when he hears the chapel bell ringing. Remembering Father Murphy’s promise that the
music of the bell would belong to Darby, he tells King Brian that he’ll make
his final wish the following day in order to fully enjoy listening to the bell
ringing.

The
next morning, Pony delivers the mail to the post office. (Pony’s job is to
bring the town’s mail from the train station to the post office.) Also in the post office is the Widow Sugrue, who
is apparently friends with Mrs. O’Toole, the woman who works there. As Mrs. O’Toole, goes through the mail Pony
has delivered, she and the Widow Sugrue come across a postcard from Lord
Fitzpatrick, which is addressed to Michael.
Apparently, these two women have no sense of privacy, for they read the
postcard and learn the true reason why Michael had been brought to the
estate. At the conniving Mrs. O’Toole’s
urging, the Widow Sugrue volunteers to bring the postcard to the estate
herself, to see if Katie knows. Before
she does so, however, the Widow Sugrue meets with Pony to tell him what she’s
found out and suggesting that perhaps Pony would be able to run Michael out of
town.

That
night, Michael enters the gatehouse to find Katie in the process of packing up
her and Darby’s things. She directs
Michael’s attention to the postcard from Lord Fitzpatrick, which is sitting on
the nearby table. Upon reading the
postcard, Michael turns to Katie with a guilty expression on his face,
prompting Katie to ask why Michael didn't tell her before. Michael explains that Darby made him promise
not to, but tells the now tearful Katie that he doesn't want them to go at
all. These words have the opposite
effect on Katie, and she lashes out at Michael for taking her father’s job when
he himself is fully capable of finding work anywhere. Now angry, Michael grabs Katie’s arm to keep
her from running out, informing her that he doesn't want Darby’s job unless he
can have the both of them with it. He
proceeds to confess that he loves Katie and wants her to remain in the
gatehouse as his wife. Katie, however,
responds to Michael’s confession with scorn and storms out of the gatehouse.

Out
at the village pub, everyone has gathered to watch Darby make his third wish. Before he can do so, however, Katie hurries
in to get her father to help her catch the horse, Cleopatra, who has run off
again. Darby, solely focused on making
his third wish, virtually ignores her pleas, and in despite frustration, Katie
shoves the rucksack containing King Brian aside, enabling the leprechaun king
to escape in his form as a rabbit.

To
be honest, I’m a bit confused about this.
Earlier, it said that leprechauns like King Brian lose their magic
during the day. But it’s clearly daytime
here, as evidenced by the sun being out, and King Brian is able to take the
shape of a rabbit. Maybe King Brian had
managed to conserve a little magic for emergencies? Then again, perhaps I simply don’t understand
the intricate laws of the leprechauns and their magic.

Realizing
that Darby won’t be helping her, Katie returns to the estate to do the job
herself. Before she can go after
Cleopatra, she is stopped by the concerned Michael, who tells her that if she
goes up the mountain with night falling, she could get herself killed. Katie, however, is still angry and refuses
Michael’s offer to get the horse for her and strikes him across the cheek with
the horse’s halter before running out into the night. Michael tries to follow her, but Pony
suddenly appears behind him and hits Michael over the head, rendering him
unconscious. Pony them proceeds to carry
Michael over to the manor house and leaves him propped against the doorway,
taking careful measures to make it look like Michael is passed out drunk, in
the hopes that Lord Fitzpatrick, who is to return the following morning, will
find Michael in his current state and conclude that he is a poor candidate for
caretaker.

Meanwhile, Darby, who has
failed to catch King Brian, returns home to the gatehouse, looking for
Katie. When he finds Lord Fitzpatrick’s
postcard, he realizes that Katie must have read it and now knows the
truth. Frantically, Darby starts
searching the grounds and finds the unconscious Michael. At first, Darby believes that Michael is
indeed drunk, but upon seeing his reactions upon waking up, is able to devise
the truth. Michael tells Darby where
Katie has gone, which deeply concerns Darby, as he knows that Katie is chasing
after a pooka.

At
that moment, Darby hears the haunting sound of a woman wailing in the wind and
recoils in fear. He recognizes sound as
the cry of the banshee, which he’d last heard on the night Mrs. O’Gill passed
away. Without hesitation, Darby and
Michael hurry off to the mountain to find Katie in time. After a search, Darby finds Katie lying
unconscious just below a ledge she clearly fell off of. Darby hurries down to her side, but the
moment he reaches her, a bolt of lightning lights the sky, and the banshee
appears. Like the effect with Cleopatra
the pooka earlier, the appearance of the banshee is quite remarkable. So much so, that she actually frightened a
lot of younger children who watched this movie.
Even today, those individuals, despite being fully grown now, admit they
still find the banshee scary. Thus, I
again have to applaud the special effects team.

Darby,
though clearly frightened of the apparition, manages to drive her away by
throwing his lantern at her. This seems
to do the trick, as the banshee disappears as the lantern collides with the
side of the mountain, bursting into flame.
Darby and Michael bring the now sick and injured Katie back to the
gatehouse before summoning Father Murphy.
Now that I think about it, one would think they would have called in the
doctor instead of the priest, but perhaps they were hoping Father Murphy would
be able to help pray Katie better.
However, regardless of the reasoning, it appears that Father Murphy can
do nothing for Katie, and, judging by the expressions on Darby and Michael’s
face, starts to get ready to perform the last rites upon the young woman.

Darby
suddenly starts hearing the banshee’s wailing once again. Wordlessly, he slips out of the room and
hurries to the front door. The moment he
opens it, BOOM! The banshee is RIGHT
THERE! In our faces. And that scene terrified a lot of kids when
they saw this scene for the first time, myself included. Even the Nostalgia Critic placed this scene
in the Number 1 slot of his Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments.

Anyway,
Darby tries to chase off the banshee with a nearby shovel, but he stops when he
sees the Cóiste Bodhar approaching. Now,
in Irish folklore, the Cóiste Bodhar, otherwise known as the Death Coach, is a
harbinger of death. Knowing that the
coach is coming for Katie, Darby summons King Brian and begs him to send the coach
away. King Brian states that the Cóiste
Bodhar is beyond his power, and once it sets out, it cannot return empty. Darby then tells King Brian to grant him his
third wish and allow the coach to take him in place if Katie. King Brian, after trying to talk Darby out of
it to no avail, sadly grants the wish before disappearing. And so, when the Cóiste Bodhar comes to a
stop outside the gatehouse, Darby willingly climbs inside.

As
Darby is carried off to the other side, King Brian appears once again, stating
that he came back to bid him farewell.
Finally, King Brian acknowledges Darby as a worthy adversary. He then tells Darby that Katie’s fever broke
the instant Darby set foot inside the coach.
As a final request, Darby asks King Brian to keep an eye on Katie and
Michael for him, to which King Brian agrees to do. Suddenly, a sly grin appears on King Brian’s
face and he announces that he wishes he could stay with Darby for the whole
trip to the other side. Darby
echoes the wish. Immediately, King Brian begins to laugh in
triumph. “Darby, you've wished your
fourth wish!” he announces. With the
fourth wish now nullifying Darby’s third, King Brian zaps Darby out of the
coach, which rides off without him.

Sometime
later, Darby is regaling to his friends about his experience on the Cóiste
Bodhar. Like before, Pony, who is
present, laughs at Darby’s claims and announces that he’ll be glad to move to
the town of Cahersiveen because he’s had quite enough of hearing the ridiculous
stories about the little people. At that
moment, Michael enters the pub, asking Pony what kind of man doesn't believe in
the leprechauns. He then continues to
say he remembers someone hit him over the head on that fateful night, and,
thinking it was a leprechaun, he asked King Brian about it. According to Michael, King Brian told him
that Pony should take the consequences, and instructed Michael to “clout the
blackguard in the face.” Instantly, a
fistfight erupts between Michael and Pony, much to the delight of the
bystanders, who have clearly all wanted to see someone challenge Pony for
years. After a brief fight, Michael
defeats Pony and walks out of the pub arm-in-arm with Darby. Together, they join Katie, who is waiting by
the carriage, and they all ride back to the gatehouse, with Michael and Katie
once again singing Pretty Irish Girl, this time as a duet. On that note, no pun intended, the movie
comes to a close.

As
a whole. Darby O’Gill and the Little People is a rather decent film. While it might not be one of Disney’s best achievements
and could easily be clumped together with some of their earlier obscure
life-action films like The Three Lives of Thomasina, So Dear to My Heart and
Toby Tyler. But for what it is, it’s a
rather imaginative fantasy story. In
fact, Walt Disney was so invested in making this story, he began planning for
the film about ten years before it was released, and when WWII came to an end,
Walt Disney and several of his artists even journeyed to Ireland themselves in
order to gain the needed background material.
In addition, it has been reported that his appearance in this film was
what brought Sean Connery to the attention of director Albert R. Broccoli, who
later cast Connery as James Bond. Thus,
in a way, we can thank this film for giving us one of the most iconic of 007
actors.

What’s
particular interesting about the movie is that there are some moments where you
have to make your own interpretations.
For example, when Michael and Katie are out on their quasi-date up on Knocknasheega,
there is no way to confirm that King Brian’s leprechauns are influencing the
pair to fall in love. It’s only hinted
at `when King Brian visits their dreams.
What’s more, as the film comes to an end with Michael finally
confronting Pony, we only have Michael’s word that he actually spoke to King
Brian about the identity of Michael’s attacker.
It’s up to us to decide for ourselves if Michael really did talk to King
Brian or if he’s only claiming he did because he’s not the type of man to fight
Pony based solely on a suspicion he can’t prove.

In
closing, this movie is an ideal way to begin introducing children and even some
adults to Irish folklore and history. Although, it may be a good idea to keep an eye on your children afterwards, for they might go out trying to catch a leprechaun themselves.

About Me

My dream is to move to England one day and write books for children and young adults. I am quite passionate about the environment and will get irritated when I see people throw plastic bottles and soda cans into the trash. I hold a strong love for animals and am greatly upset when I see people killing spiders or buying spring-loaded mousetraps. I am also a Christian woman, but please don't automatically label me as an overly-conservative Bible thumper.
Finally, I am offended by excessive swearing, particularly the F-bomb, which is why you won't see me using any of it in my blog.